


so many wounds (that never bleed)

by LiveLaughLovex



Series: fight for one another [2]
Category: The Code (TV 2019)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Infidelity, Season/Series 02 AU, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:29:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26725189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: The thing about her marriage is this: she doesn't look back on it with fondness. So, when she hears her ex-husband is marrying again, she doesn't feel sadness. She feels relief, then fear, though it isn't for herself. It's for the other woman he's drawn in with his beautiful lies.She vanishes, and Sebastian finds her, as he always does. And when he tells her it's all going to be alright, she believes him.
Relationships: Maya Dobbins/Original Male Character(s)
Series: fight for one another [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943935
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	so many wounds (that never bleed)

**Author's Note:**

> Be gentle with me,  
> for my heart hides  
> so many wounds  
> that never bleed.
> 
> \- Alexandra Vasiliu

“Are you hiding or thinking?”

Maya jumped at the sudden intrusion, spinning to face the apologetic NCIS agent with a hand pressed to her chest in a fruitless effort to slow the beating of her heart. “Well, I _was_ thinking. _Now_ , though, I might be having a heart attack. Announce yourself next time, would you?”

Sebastian nodded once, hands burying themselves in his pockets as he strolled over to stand beside her. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was starting to get worried, is all. You seemed fine for a minute there, and then your phone rang and you vanished. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him halfheartedly, glancing away from his irritatingly knowing gaze. “The call was from a friend back home. Robert’s getting remarried.”

“Huh.” Sebastian considered her for a moment, then returned his gaze to the skyline. “That upset you?”

“No,” she answered, immediately and honestly. “No, I’m not out here because I’m heartbroken or pining or… that chapter of my life is over and done with, and I’m glad it is.”

“And yet it’s the sort of news that makes you disappear entirely for forty-five minutes?” Sebastian asked curiously, turning so he faced her more fully.

“It’s not him I’m out here thinking about,” she admitted quietly. “It’s _her_.”

“Ah. What about her?”

“Look, it’s not that I need a man to define me, alright? That’s not it, because I don’t. I am _fine_ , being on my own. I always have been. I’ve had to be, ever since I was a kid. My brother, he needed so much more from our parents than I did. And I know that’s not his fault, I know that. He was _sick_. He still _is_ sick, and I don’t blame him for being different, or for the chemical imbalance in his brain. I _don’t_.”

“I know you don’t, May,” he assured her quietly, gaze never shifting from her face.

She nodded once, accepting his words. “When we were married – even before we got married, really – Robert put me through a lot more than I deserved to be put through. A lot more than anybody deserves to be put through, really. But I just laid down and let him do it.”

“You didn’t just lie down and let him destroy you, Dobbins,” the agent said firmly, waiting until she met his gaze to continue. “You filed for divorce. You got away from him…”

“Yeah, after I found out about his third affair and had a plate thrown at my head on that night that he’d had a few too many,” Maya interrupted pointedly. “I knew about the first two affairs, Sebastian. I knew about the drinking. I could’ve left him so much sooner. I _should_ have left him so much sooner than I did. But I stayed. _I stayed_ , because I’d taken vows, and I felt it was my job to honor them, and nobody in my life bothered to tell me I didn’t have to. Until I told people, until I let you and Abe and Trey know about what was going on, nobody bothered to tell me I didn’t have to love him _to death_.”

“Don’t give us any credit, May. You’re easily one of the smartest people I know. You always have been. You would’ve figured it out eventually.”

“Maybe,” Maya allowed, heaving another sigh. “I’m just… I’m worried about her. This woman he’s going to marry. I don’t know her, but I’m worried about her, because… I don’t know if she has a you in her life. I don’t know if she’s got an Abe, or a Trey, or a Matty. What if the only people she’s got in her life are – what if they’re the kind that turn away a woman who shows up, bleeding, on their doorstep because her husband got drunk and threw a plate at her and a shard of glass cut her forehead? It won’t really matter if she’s smart enough to run away for her own safety if there’s nowhere safe for her to run _to_.”

Sebastian exhaled slowly. “That’s true. But I’m sure she has people looking out for her, Maya.”

“I’d like to think she does, too,” she sighed, smiling bitterly. “But I can’t be sure. So, here I am. Hiding.”

“I thought you were thinking,” he teased gently.

“Yeah, well, maybe I’m doing both.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” he allowed, bumping his shoulder gently against hers, the look in his eyes as she smiled making it clear that was his only goal. “Are you going to be alright?”

“At least I get to stop making alimony payments,” she said sardonically, her head resting briefly against his shoulder before she pulled away with a deep inhale. “I don’t want anyone else to treat me the way Robert did,” she confessed softly.

“They won’t,” he promised, gently squeezing her hand. “None of us will let them.”

“I don’t want to be alone for the rest of my life, either,” she admitted, her voice somehow becoming even quieter.

“None of us will let that happen, either,” he promised once more, releasing her arm to wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her gently into his side. “Okay? I swear to you, Maya, no matter what happens, you’re not going to end up alone. _Ever_. Alright?”

“Alright,” she agreed shakily, realizing suddenly that she believed him entirely. And why wouldn’t she? He’d never lied to her. She didn’t think he ever would. And in that moment, that knowledge was all she needed to turn around, to leave the roof and go back inside the bar, to be surrounded by all the people who’d become more like family than coworkers over the past few years.

“Are you okay?” Harper asked concernedly, her voice low as she pulled slightly away from Abe to lean toward the other woman.

“Yeah,” Maya assured her. She glanced around the table briefly, then met the prosecutor’s gaze once more, smiling warmly. “Yeah,” she said again, truly meaning it. “I’m good.”


End file.
